The Long Trail in Vermont runs 273 miles from the MA/VT border to Canada, along the spine of the Green Mountains. Built by the Green Mountain Club in 1910-1930, it is extremely rugged, steep and rocky.

The Long Trail has a long history of speed record attempts, as is detailed in part on at David Horton's site. Here's a brief synopsis of successful men's (supported) records:

Champion ultrarunner Nikki Kimball set the women's (supported) FKT of 5d7h42m on Aug. 13-18, 2012. A well-produced, 55-min. film was made of Kimball's run, titled Finding Traction, which is available for streaming on Netflix. It gives a good idea of the nature of the trail, with plenty of GoPro footage shot by Kimball's pacers and crew.

As far as I know, Demetri "Coup" Coupounas, the founder of GoLite, was the first person to hike the Long Trail entirely unsupported, that is with no resupply of any kind (except for collecting ambient water). Coup hiked the trail in 12d19h53m, August 18-31, 2004. His trip was part of the "Triple Gem" of backpacking -- the John Muir Trail, Long Trail and Colorado Trail -- each of which he completed unsupported. GoLite's press release on the Triple Gem is archived here. The "Triple Gem" project also served as promotion for GoLite. Coup had these comments:

Enjoying an alpine style thru-hike of a trail as long as the Long Trail wasn’t even thinkable a decade ago. Now with 1 ¼ pound packs, 1 pound shelters, 1 ¼ pound sleeping bags, ¾ pound waterproof-breathable parkas and the like, it’s totally achievable. Actually, the load I started with was less than what I used to carry for a weekend before my wife Kim and I founded GoLite.

Coup's record was smashed by Travis Wildeboer of Winter Park, Colorado, who hiked the LT without support of any kind in 6d17h25m, Sept. 7-13, 2010. His very detailed report is here.

The Long Trail has also seen some fast self-supported trips. Self-supported means that you don't carry everything you need from the start, but you don't have dedicated, pre-arranged people helping you. You might put out stashes of supplies for yourself prior to the trip, or you might just use what's out there, such as stores, begging from other trail users, etc. Jennifer Pharr-Davis holds the fastest time for a self-supported trip on the Long Trail, 7d15h40m, in August 2007. Prior to Kimball, this was also the overall fastest time for a female. The following is taken from www.trainharder.com:

Pharr, of Hendersonville, North Carolina, completed the Appalachian Trail in 2005 and the Pacific Crest Trail in 2006, but yearned to thru-hike a substantial trail in a sustained push. 'I wanted to immerse myself in the trail and give it my all,' says Pharr. 'Nothing could have taught me more as pushing my limits on the Long Trail.' Pharr’s unsupported journey began each day at 5 or 6 a.m. She averaged 30 miles daily, hiking until 8 or 9 p.m., snacking all day. She had mailed three shipments of food to towns along the trail to restock her food supply. Pharr’s 10-pound pack contained food and clothing, but no tent, as she slept under the stars, and when weather looked threatening, stayed in Green Mountain Club huts.

After blitzing through 45 miles the first day, Pharr awoke on the second morning to a swollen knee and ankle and later that day, suffered a bee sting on the same leg. Mildly allergic, she endured a painful and swollen leg for two days, icing it in streams wherever possible, doubting her ability to continue. But day four was a turning point. 'I had physically overcome a great deal of pain and was now ready for the challenges ahead,' she says.

After graduating from Alabama’s Samford University three-and-a-half years ago, Pharr works seasonally for six months at a North Carolinian summer camp for girls and then travels and hikes the remainder of the year. She took up ultrarunning shortly before her Long Trail attempt, running Virginia’s 2006 Promise Land 50K in 7:00:19 and the 2007 Holiday Lake 50K in 5:34:14. After her record-breaking hike, she also completed Lynchburg’s Mountain Masochist 50-miler in 9:41:21.

'I know that hiking strong, fast and smart can teach you specific lessons, and [being really fit] is a gift that will not always be available to me,' says Pharr. 'So I want to take advantage of it while I can.'

Pharr’s Long Trail sojourn profoundly changed her. 'I am not the same person that I had been at the start,' she says. 'Endurance hiking had taught me to unburden myself from physical gear and emotional ties that slowed me down in the past, and in turn focus on what is positive in my life.'

Prior to Pharr-Davis, the self-supported Long Trail record holder was probably Dr. Warren Doyle, who, in 1978, covered the distance in 8d13h25m.

The Long Trail: Where even the downhills are uphill. - Alicia Hudelson

Post by on Oct 28, 2010 17:30:08 GMT -5

I too can confirm that Travis Wildeboer did indeed beat the record.He spent his first night hiking south from the northern terminus at Spruce Ledge Camp. I know I was staying there. Just talking with the guy you knew he'd make it. I was hiking south doing a yo yo of the Long Trail. Congrats man. I also talked with a hiker at Roundtop Shelter who saw Travis. My trail name: GrayJay 56

Post by on Jun 18, 2013 16:05:26 GMT -5

I've been curious about this for a while. On attempting something like the long trail for an unsupported speed record, is foraging for food considered supported?

I understand the paces that these folks keep leaves very little time to forage or hunt. And I'm figuring that it'd fall under the you can "forage" for water on the trail. But I'm just curious what other folks think.

I wonder b/c if you were good at foraging/hunting, or if you were Bear Grylls or Les Stroud, than you could leave a lot of weight at home.

Post by on Sept 13, 2014 19:08:45 GMT -5

Hello. On the morning of September 16th I will be attempting to take on Travis's unsupported record. If all goes well, I plan to complete the hike in just about six days. My itenary is similar to this years unsuccessful "Run for Colin" attempt.

Obviously this schedule is subject to flexibility. I'm taking no help of any kind except for the enthusiasm of others and hopefully a few good anecdotes. I finished the Pacific Crest Trail August 14th and am hoping my fitness will translate into East Coast miles. My base weight is sub 5 pounds and I will be carrying a minimum of food. We will see how it goes. I have no GPS for this but I'm sure the batteries would not lastany way. Ill sign the registers and try to update my position on guthooks app. A full write up will follow if successful. If not, I will slink back into the shadows without a wordbeing written. You see, I am mindful of how valuable your time is.

Post by on May 22, 2015 18:00:56 GMT -5

Post by alicia on Jul 29, 2015 10:18:07 GMT -5

I'm going to have a go at the unsupported record this coming week. I'll start between Aug 1 and Aug 8 depending on weather (though I realize options are essentially "more mud" and "less mud" at this point!). I'm taking a Suunto Ambit watch and will get a GPS track of each day.

While it would be nice if I could get under Travis's record, if that doesn't happen, I figure it would be nice to at least get a women's unsupported time on the board. In any case, I definitely hope to be under 7 days--and will be very hungry towards the end if I'm not!

Post by alicia on Aug 7, 2015 8:26:30 GMT -5

I quit on the morning of day 4, at Appalachian Gap (mile 107). I got caught in a big storm and couldn't stay warm. Overall I did get fairly lucky with the weather and found the trail to be extremely hard but extremely beautiful.

Post by jordo on Aug 24, 2015 15:42:05 GMT -5

Hey everybody!

I'm pleased to announce that Joe "String Bean" McConaughy is attempting an unsupported FKT thru hike of the Long Trail starting between 2-3AM early tomorrow morning on 8/25/15. He will be starting at Journey's End and going sobo. He is carrying all of his own food and water and starting at a pack weight of 22 lbs. He will be sending tracking updates to his movescount.com account (string_bean) through his Suunto watch.

"Off to the next great adventure! I will be attempting an unsupported FKT of the 272 mile Vermont Long Trail. I am hoping to cover about 70 miles per day over some really rocky, gnarly trail. I'll be starting sometime Tuesday morning around 2-3 AM, so wish me luck! Thanks to everyone who has been supporting/running with me this summer. Hopefully I am prepared, but at least it will be an unreal experience!

I will trying to get updates through my Suunto watch at Trail Animals Running Club (TARC), or my Facebook if you want to follow me, but I will be mostly out of contact with social media.

Post by alicia on Sept 7, 2015 14:24:23 GMT -5

This sounded intriguing, so I had a look at Joe's Facebook. Sorry to see he had to get off the trail--"Unfortunately I had to get off trail yesterday. While I was right on pace to cover 120 miles through 2 days, my knee seized up on me."

I'm still intrigued though; 120 miles in 2 days would put him 11 miles ahead of the (very solid Jonathan Basham) *supported* record, and Joe was carrying a 22-pound pack! Not to mention Joe would have been at double the pace of Travis's also very solid unsupported record. Maybe Joe will post up his Suunto tracks at some point so we can see how he did it?

Post by on Jun 13, 2016 10:10:18 GMT -5

Tonight I will be getting dropped off at the northern terminus of the Long Trail, spending the night at Journey's End (Beginning), and starting tomorrow morning at about 5 o'clock. I will be travelling south with the intention of meeting Travis Wildeboer's 6 day 17 hour 25 minute mark for the unsupported FKT. Feel free to say hi. I will be sending text updates to a friend who will post on The Endurance Society's Facebook page. I will be going by "Dusk" and will mark as many Trail Registers as I can with a simple time and name. The next 6 days are supposed to be beautiful, I look forward to the trip. Happy Trails,Lance "Dusk" ParkerMontpelier, VT